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The Pride of Sasan-Gir

Young male Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica) sighted in its natural habitat at Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary in the village of Sasan located...
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Young male Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica) sighted in its natural habitat at Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary in the village of Sasan located within the Girnar mountain range in Gujarat, India.

It covers a total area of 545 sq. miles. It is one of the most successful conservation efforts to bring back Asiatic lions from the brink of extinction, numbering only 20 in 1900 to 523 today (2015). This is now the only place where they can be found in the wild.

To a large extent, credit for the lions' immensely successful conservation efforts goes to the nomadic tribal community of cattle herdsmen called the "Maldharis", coexisting peacefully in Sasan and other villages within and around the National Park.

A large part of the lions' prey base is the community's cattle who in turn have been allowed free access to the protected areas and gain from the forest's natural resources.
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